Rumsfeld’s Intel Chief: Iraq War ‘Greatest Decision Of The Century’

The man behind fabricating intelligence reports to invade Iraq says the war was one of it not the greatest decision of the 21st century.

Stephen Cambone (center) was sworn in the Pentagon’s intelligence chief on March 11, 2003. Photo: DoD
Anyone whose sense of logic is based anywhere near reality realizes that the United States decision to invade Iraq was one of the worst decisions the United States ever made.

This especially so given the decision was based on completely fabricated intelligence reports to secure weapons of mass destruction the architects of the war knew didn’t exist but lied to convince the rest of the world they did exist.

But one of the men at the center of the fabricating the intelligence reports – Donald Rumsfeld’s one-time intelligence chief – says not only was the Iraq war the right decision but it was also “one of the great strategic decisions of the first half of the 21st century, if it proves not to be the greatest.”

His justification is that the Iraq war planted the seeds for the Arab spring as buy invading Iraq the United States sent shock-waves throughout the Middle East that destabilized surrounding governments so allowing the United States to install puppet governments in a way that otherwise would not be possible.

For example, he says that thanks to Iraq war governments in places such as Libya, Syria, Lebanon were destabilized allowing them to be overthrown by NATO incited popular revolutions.

He says as an added bonus the shock-waves will eventually topple will topple nation’s that are closely aligned with the United State’s imperialistic agenda but aren’t completely lapdogs for the United States government at the moment – for example Saudi Arabia.

More from Wired:

ASPEN, Colorado — There’s a broad consensus in the U.S. defense establishment today that the choice to invade Iraq was ill-considered and that the initial plan to stabilize the country was even worse. But for Donald Rumsfeld’s one-time intelligence chief, the Iraq war wasn’t just the right call at the time. It was “one of the great strategic decisions of the first half of the 21st century, if it proves not to be the greatest.”

Stephen Cambone, who served as the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence from 2003 until 2007, surprised the audience at the Aspen Security Forum this weekend when he hailed the Iraq war as an alloyed triumph that paved the way for the rebellions now sweeping the Middle East. “It will be one of the greatest strategic victories of the United States because…. of the aftershocks that you see flowing through the region, whether it be in Libya, or in Egypt, or now in Syria,” he said.

Even among alumni of the Bush administration, the unapologetic perspective is somewhat unusual. Bob Gates, who succeeded Rumsfeld as Pentagon chief, told a group of West Point cadets last year that “any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should ‘have his head examined,’ as General MacArthur so delicately put it.’” Ryan Crocker — who served President Bush’s ambassador to Iraq and Obama’s representative in Afghanistan — recently cautioned tomorrow’s policymakers to think hard before launching any more invasions.
[…]

Cambone, who served as one of Bush’s top intelligence officials, didn’t express the same sort of remorse.

[…]

Cambone also offered a prediction: that the wave of unrest unleashed by the Iraq war would soon hit American allies in Saudi Arabia and Jordan. This was an extremely positive thing, Cambone added: “After Syria comes Lebanon and after Lebanon come Jordan, and after those come Saudi Arabia; this place is in motion in a way that it hasn’t been for a century — and we have an opportunity to shape that.”